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That's because Today show host Kathie Lee Gifford's enthusiastic announcement Monday that her son Cody would be providing movie reviews for the fourth hour of the program his mommy co-anchors -- she shouted "I love nepotism" at one point -- is part of an ongoing tradition at the Peacock Network's news division.

Late Meet the Press host Tim Russert's son Luke also reports for NBC News, often popping up on MSNBC when they need a hand. And former first kid Jenna Bush is also a correspondent of sorts for Today, at least when the subject at hand involves her parents or Texas

(As several comments have pointed out, Bush isn't related to an NBC exec., but there is little doubt she got the job because of who she is related to, so let's call that nepotism-by-proxy).

Now 20-year-old film student Cody Gifford has snagged an unpaid internship appearing on the highest-rated morning show in the country to tell us all about the complexities of Toy Story 3 and Jonah Hex.

And what's disappointing isn't that NBC News is so blithe about giving up airtime to something so odd. It's that such behavior barely surprises an audience which has been trained to expect so little from such a frothy production.

I'm thinking about claiming to be Al Roker's long-forgotten love child; I could use the extra exposure.